Dialogue
Having in-character dialogue appear above the figures on the map is an option.

Resize
The ability to resize the chat window would be nice.

Filters / Chat Splitting
The ability to split the chat window and set filters on the divisions so that, for example, the GM descriptions appear in one window, dialogue in another, and OOC in a third.
This suggestion was inspired by the Neverwinter Nights chat interface.

Chat Portraits
It would be interesting to be able to see a tiny portrait of the speaker beside the text when chatting.
This also comes from Neverwinter Nights.

Emotes
Character emotes ("Bob sneaks slowly onward") will certainly be an option.

IC Languages
While in character, speaking in foreign languages would appear as gibberish to those players who can't translate.

Custom Sound Effects
It would be nice to be able to customize the sound effects.

Dice Chat
There will certainly be ways to use dice rolls and dice macros directly from the chat interface.

Last edited by Omnidon on Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:19 am, edited 10 times in total.

another suggestion for the chat (and the game in general I suppose), though likely for a future and not the offical release version would be a way (unless there already *is* one!) to split chat/scenes if part of a group wanders off, so the right hand doesn't see what the left hand is doing/seeing/slaughering. This is one of the things that I *do* like about just using IRC and a dicebot...there's no visuals, but it's really easy to move people to a new channel if the party goes in two different directions (or more but that can get really complicated). It doesn't prevent them sharing info pm, but...that's their choice. I used that ability in something I GMed where one individual decided to stand guard (well, hide in a bush) outside the town while the rest of the group went on with things. It allowed for the flexibility to do that without putting "artificial" pressure on the player to rejoin the group becuase they were sitting there watching what was going on. (It was easy to go check in on him while the others decided what they were going to do and if I remember I adjusted some things on the fly so he'd have both reason and ability to rejoin if he chose...gotta hand it to him...he remained steadfast ) That's one "feature" that I'm not sure how well would be able to be implemented in a program like this.

Omnidon wrote:Custom Sound Effects
Being able to change or disable sound effects for the chat interface would be a relief.

You'll be glad to know that for v1.0.1, I've added the ability to turn off the chat sound effects. This option is available on the first Preferences screen. Your settings are saved from session to session.

If anyone has some good, royalty-free sound effects that they think would be an improvement over the current chat sound effects, please send me the audio files.

Please help spread the word about BRPG and BGE, and never hesitate to tell me how I can make them better suit your gaming needs.

Personally, I fully intend to use Voip software, but I do see the chat window as a useful tool for certain circumstances.

I will second Tilchie's request for an ability to create character channels. Parties seem to split for all kinds of reasons.

As for Omnidon's suggestions:

Custom Formatting: I'd rate this high on the to-do list. It would be nice to be able to eventually turn off player names entirely and let people be identified in chat by the fonts once others become accustomed.

Appearance: Can never be too pretty.

Pop-Out: I like this. Especially if it can be set to have a "mouse over" effect like many MMO's. That is, you Pop-Out (undock) the chat window, set it where you want, set it to 75% transparency, and then when you mouse-over it it goes to some other transparency (0-20% usually) for a bit.

Dialogue (above characters): Could be very cool, especially if incorporated comic book style. But there still needs to be a place where a record of what's said can be seen, because I can see people missing what others say if they don't have said character on screen or step away from the keyboard. I see this as a somewhat gimicky feature that would be fun, but less important that getting a lot of important things into the core chat interface.

Resize Chat Window: Imperative.

Filters/Chat Splitting: Sure thing. Can also have chat tabs within the chat windows to futher subset how people want to filter the chat.

Portraits next to chat: Seems like this would just take up a lot of space for little effect. Maybe just a small icon would surfice.

Emotes: Would be nice. Would be nicer if IC, OOC, Emotes, and GM Message were quick toggle buttons on the chat window too (click button, and then everything typed will go out in that format.) Would cut down on mistakes for how things are displayed.

IC Languages: Would actually be very cool and more of a feature than a basic necessity. This is, in fact, one of those situations where having chat brings something immersive to the table even if you're using voice software by simulating the fact that some characters just wouldn't know exactly what's being said in many circumstances. I would instruct my players to "translate in their own words" for others who don't speak the language... which could lead to some interesting interpretations. I like this idea a lot.

Dice Chat: Not sure I fully understand how important this is, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be too hard to implement.

Of all the features many of which I really do like the sound of. I can't help but think the one that I "really, really, really" want to see. Is to be able to adjust the appearance of the chat window. Such that I can increase font size nad change colours.

With my eyesight not the best I find the chat font size to be a struggle to read. Makes it hard for me run my games as the GM. About to start my first session tomorrow night. I'll be using my old chat client for that. As I can get the size up to a easily viewable level.

On a personal note Heruca, It would be nice for the GM to be able to change his chat color at will.

Each of my players uses a different color text, which makes conversations inside the party and with an NPC very easy to read.

The problem becomes if I have 2 NPC talking to each other (as if the party is overhearing a conversation.)
Both the NPCs will have the same chat color, since they are both controlled by me.
This usually isn't a big deal, but if the conversation is adequately large and complex; (like 4 NPCs having an argument) it can get difficult to follow.

I'm not sure how many other GMs use a text-based narration, but i know changing my own chat color would make my life easier.

The ability to set a colour per figure should suffice for this, as well as a colour per player (OOC colour/format). Also, all these settings would ideally be the whole format (font, colour, size, italics, etc.), not just colour.

If the GM wants 'special effects voices', those could use a separate mechanism, but just adding a dummy figure for them is not so hard.

Balesir wrote:The ability to set a colour per figure should suffice for this, as well as a colour per player (OOC colour/format). Also, all these settings would ideally be the whole format (font, colour, size, italics, etc.), not just colour.

If the GM wants 'special effects voices', those could use a separate mechanism, but just adding a dummy figure for them is not so hard.

Some npc's may not have a figure so the gm would still need to be able to set a colour per voice. (I make great use of the chatas command)

Balesir wrote:The ability to set a colour per figure should suffice for this

I will try to add this feature for v1.6c.

All units will default to Black as their chat color until you change it. Your choice of chat color for a unit will be saved in Encounters and Deployments, so you should only need to set the color once (rather than once per session).

Please help spread the word about BRPG and BGE, and never hesitate to tell me how I can make them better suit your gaming needs.

OK, starting with BRPG v1.6c (to be released soon), you can set the chat color for each unit on the map individually, and the GM can also set the chat color for chat aliases (as described in my previous post). If the GM does not specify a chat color when creating a chat alias, the alias will "speak" in black text by default. A chat aliases' chat color may be changed even after the chat alias has been created, simply by issuing the "ChatAs" command again and specifying a new color.

Please help spread the word about BRPG and BGE, and never hesitate to tell me how I can make them better suit your gaming needs.